New City

Will annexation empower recently added city residents?

The most distinguishable bustle in Leroy and Michele Catanach’s neighborhood came from dogs. Large dogs, small dogs, and menacing guard dogs all sent out a piercing cacophony wherever Javier Gonzales walked. But the Catanach’s dogs proved friendly.

His encounter with the couple was welcome for the mayoral candidate, much more so than the cold shoulders from some of the voters uninterested in politics on a frigid Saturday afternoon. Other doors didn’t swing open for him because the residents either weren’t home or refused to answer his knocks.

He was targeting known voters in the area, ranked by his campaign with different tiers based on the voter’s history of casting ballots. He notes tier one voters are people “who we know are going to vote,” tier two voters “sporadically, may vote,” and tier three voters “are obviously brand new voters who are just registered.”

It turns out Gonzales is an old acquaintance of the Catanachs—they’ve been friends with the family for “30, 40 years”—and they greeted each other accordingly. With experience in government, they say they’re frequent voters, likely on the tier one list, who plan on casting their ballots for Gonzales.

But residents on this block aren’t accustomed to the door-to-door salesmanship of campaigning in February. The street located about a mile north of Las Acequias Park between Rufina Street and Agua Fria Road wasn’t even part of the city until last month. Santa Fe County holds its primary elections in June and general elections in November.

The neighborhood’s residents are among some 4,445 households that were formally brought into city limits as a part of the 2008 annexation agreement between the county and city that’s projected to add about 13,250 to the city population.

Letters that arrived at their houses last year foreshadowed small, but in some cases irritating, changes in the lives of these residents. Annexed residents whose water wells require re-drilling might have to apply with the city and connect to city water lines, reads the letter, which also notes the fees for hooking up to the city’s water and sewer systems. Businesses in the annexed area will need to fork over $35 to register with the city and begin charging a gross receipts tax of 8.1 percent—higher than the county’s 6.8 percent.

Residential property
taxes will increase by $58 annually per every $100,000 of market value
of a home. The letter notes that the new city residents will be
represented by the council and the mayor, but it didn’t provide
elections dates.

All
that leads to a fundamental question: will the quality of life for these
residents—many of whom are on limited incomes— improve now that, as of
Jan. 1, they’re residents of the city?

The
March 4 election is around the corner, and candidates like Gonzales are
promising them the shift to the city from the county will be worth it.

“I
think that a lot of people in the annexed area—they have some
concerns,” Gonzales says. “It’s not so much about providing services but
creating places where there are employment centers and jobs.”

Some 4,445 households were brought into city limits as a part of a 2008 agreement between the county and city.

He says many residents in the newly annexed are “highly dependent on services, and many of those services are downtown.”

His
opponent Patti Bushee says she’s been hitting the annexation areas
since December—both by door knocking and mailing out campaign
literature.

She says
annexed residents on the Southside also tell her they’re in need of
services like bus lines, Internet access and medical care. But the
longtime city councilor notes that much of the annexed tracts are
already built out. The city collects revenue from impact fees charged
to, for instance, a new construction project.

Without
any new development in the area, argues Bushee, the city has inherited
tracts without also inheriting fees the city would have charged for
development of those tracts.

“The
demand for services right now is great,” in the annexed areas, she
says, “yet the new tax base is not going to be equivalent for the demand
of services.” It’s the city’s duty to “immediately” start delivering
services to those areas, she adds.

District
3 City Council candidate Angelo Jaramillo argues that newly annexed
residents, all of whom belong to that district, have to organize
themselves to get the attention of City Hall.

But
“[there’s] kind of the apathy which we know in the Southside,” he says,
which, “unfortunately has the lowest registered voters and the lowest
voter turnout.”

Nearly
58,000 voters are registered in the city, and about 12,503 are in
District 3, home to much of the newly annexed land. Even with the
additional territory, it’s the smallest number of registered voters in
the four council districts.

The
Catanachs have been living in their home as county residents for over a
decade and say their biggest worry is burglary. The couple noted they
have lots of new neighbors, but they’re not sure whether the new
population will vote or participate in government because of language
barriers.

Louie
Valencia, 50, who lives across the street, says he’s also had visits
from candidates and that he’s on the fence between supporting Gonzales
or Bill Dimas, a current city councilor also seeking the mayor’s post.
Valencia says his main concerns are immigration and the minimum wage.

Walking through the neighborhood, Gonzales and a campaign aide found one friendly dog, a stray that followed them for blocks.

But
annexation threatens to even affect the dogs: While city and county
officials have worked in recent years to make animal control rules
similar across jurisdictions, there are more animal control officers per
square mile covering the city area than the county. More doggy cops
could mean less freedom for the pooch.